1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus which adopts ink jet type print means.
2. Related Background Art
A facsimile apparatus has been known as an example of a communication apparatus.
As the recent population of the use of plain papers in the facsimile apparatus, a serial printer represented by an ink jet type is frequently adopted as a printer unit built in the facsimile apparatus.
Since the serial printer has been inherently designed to print while it is connected to a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC), many serial printers use an interface which complies with the Centronix type. The Centronix type interface is normally unilateral and is used to transmit data to be printed and control codes from the PC to a printer unit.
In the ink jet type printer, an operation to eliminate the clogging of ink discharge nozzles (hereinafter referred to as a recovery operation) is required at the start-up. During the recovery operation, some amount of ink is consumed but if a time elapsed from the previous recovery operation is short, the clogging may be usually eliminated by a simplified recovery operation. The prior art ink jet type printer is constructed to suppress the wasteful consumption of the ink by changing a scale of the recovery operation in accordance with the elapsed time from the previous recovery operation.
In a prior art facsimile apparatus, an operation mode may be shifted from a normal operation mode to a low power consumption mode during a stand-by mode in which no action is conducted. In the low power consumption mode, an operation of a control unit in the printer unit may be stopped or rendered to a dormant state called a sleep mode to suppress the power consumption.
However, when the facsimile apparatus enters the low power consumption mode, a timer in the control unit of the printer unit is also stopped so that the time measurement is not attained. As a result, in the prior art facsimile apparatus, it is designed to conduct a maximum scale of recovery operation whenever the operation mode is raised from the low power consumption mode to the normal operation mode. Thus, the consumption of the ink increases and a long time is required to start up the printer unit.
A facsimile apparatus which uses the ink jet printer has been known. Such a facsimile apparatus has separate control means for the ink jet printer and a main unit for conducting communication, reading and data coding/decoding which are fundamental operations of the facsimile apparatus, and has a serial signal line between those control means.
In the facsimile apparatus comprising separate control means for the record means and the main unit, setting information of the record means is set by serial communication. In the prior art, no countermeasures to save the power consumption has been attempted and the supply of the power to the ink jet printer has not been stopped. Accordingly, in the prior art, a timer in the ink jet printer and a bilateral record correction value are not managed by the main unit.
Accordingly, in the above prior art apparatus, when the supply of the power of the ink jet printers is to be stopped in order to save the power consumption, the timer in the printer and the bilateral record correction value are deviated so that the recovery operation which is to be conducted by the printer at an interval of 72 hours cannot be conducted at a proper time interval or the printer may not be properly operated because of the deviation in the bilateral records.